Area Teachers and Students to Demonstrate Mobile App-Programming Prowess

July 30 Showcase at Trinity Part of Mobile CSP Project Funded by National Science Foundation

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What: A Mobile Apps Showcase, to include presentations by area high school teachers who took courses this summer in Mobile Computer Science Principles (Mobile CSP) professional development, as well as Mobile Apps for Hartford presentations by high school students who spent four weeks working on design, testing, and implementation of mobile apps addressing challenges posed by Hartford organizations. Each of the apps is designed to be socially useful to members of the community served by the participating “client” organizations, and representatives of those organizations will attend the presentations.

Background: The Mobile Computer Science Principles (Mobile CSP) professional development program provides training to Connecticut educators on how to teach computer science to students. The program is funded by a three-year, $902,732 National Science Foundation grant awarded in 2012 to Trinity College Professor of Computer Science Ralph Morelli in collaboration with Chinma Uche, president of the Connecticut Computer Science Teachers Association. What distinguishes the Mobile CSP project from other programs is its focus on mobile technology (smartphones and portable tablets) to teach computer science. The 12 Connecticut teachers who completed this summer’s Mobile CSP program at Trinity will teach Mobile CSP as an Advanced Placement (AP) course at their respective schools during the 2015-2016 academic year. The goals of the Mobile CSP program include attracting more students to the field of computer science and eventually expanding the male-dominated field to include women and underrepresented minorities, such as Latinos and African Americans.

Sponsored in partnership with the City of Hartford, Mobile Apps for Hartford – an offshoot of the Mobile Computer Science Principles (Mobile CSP) program – has provided six area high school students with paid summer employment and an opportunity to serve the Hartford community with their mobile technology and problem-solving skills.